I Have Never Been as Tired

I'm sure you know this is illegal!

 

I spent 4 years as a P&D driver for FedEx.
It was a good job, but there were days where I really got stressed out.
Like when I got behind on deliveries and dispatch was sending me pickups that closed early.
I'd have to double-back, move skids around (if I could with the pallet jack, otherwise I'd have to have someone with a forklift move the big stuff around), and then move everything around again.
My record for pickups/deliveries in a day was 28!!!!
Sometimes in the morning, the trailer wouldn't be loaded right and I'd have stops out of order, which was time-consuming.
Other times, customers would refuse freight or they'd be closed, then I'd have to work around that freight the rest of the day.
Then of course, there was the whole OS&D thing (damages)....customers hollaring at you because someone put a fork through their skid.
But the nice thing was going home every night and sleeping in my bed with weekends off.
And not just a 34-hour reset either, a full weekend.

I did linehaul puling doubles for a year, but that was mind-numbingly boring...the same roads day after day after day.
If I were to stay in trucking, I'd try to get a regional-type job with less stops or maybe a tanker gig sounds good.

 

Well I learn something every day! But at least I was 49/50's correct!

 

http://www.baesystems.com/

All over the world...

 

I really enjoyed most of my local P & D work. Right up until my body just plain wore out.

Yeah, there were some customers that were a true PITA, but for the most part, when you are dealing with the same folks day in and day out, you can figure some way of establishing a decent working relationship.

As for the rest of them, well, to put it simply - SCREW THEM. You only have to put up with their BS for a few minutes, then you are on your way.

 

I was flatbed OTR and once did nine drops in a single business day, all in the metro Los Angeles area. Everything went EXACTLY right, and it was still about as tiring and nerve-wracking as any day I can remember. Do it every day of the week, for months on end? No way.

On the other hand, the easiest driving job I ever had was running coal and so-called "mine water" between a coal mine, chemical companies, and a power plant (it varied from day to day what runs you had), for BTI out of Kemmerer, WY. Empty roads, scenic country, and when you were finished you went home. Sometimes in as little as seven hours.

100 ft doubles and 155K/lb loads through some steep foothills in winter meant you had to have fair driving skills and a bit-O-fearlessness upon occasion, but that was it. Otherwise a cakewalk. So good local jobs do indeed exist.